Spring Street tap dances, fearing the Tote could rock the vote

Jill Stark and Natalie Craig

''WE TOTE and we vote.'' It was the placard that caught the eye of the Premier. When 2000 protesters converged on the Tote Hotel in Collingwood last Sunday to object to the iconic pub's closure, the message to the Government was simple - ignore live music fans at your peril.

One week on and John Brumby has heeded the warning. After previously insisting tough liquor licensing restrictions that forced the pub to the wall were necessary, the Government has done a backflip and the Tote looks set to reopen.

However, political analysts say the Premier's sudden support for this grungy inner-city pub is not driven by a passion for rock'n'roll, but by fears it could be a state election flashpoint costing Labor votes in some of its most marginal seats.

They believe the Government has yielded to pressure from young potential voters in Melbourne's artistic inner north who could punish Labor at the November poll.

Mr Brumby's pledge on rock radio station Triple M on Thursday that he would ''fine tune'' controversial liquor licensing laws to allow the Tote to reopen, came after 20,000 people signed a petition urging him to save Melbourne's live music scene by scrapping licensing conditions under which band venues were classified as high risk.

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It was an about-face from Consumer Affairs Minister Tony Robinson's position on Monday, when he said the strict licensing conditions were necessary.

In a statement to The Sunday Age on Friday, Mr Robinson changed his tune.

''The Premier's views represent the Government's position on this issue,'' he said. ''No one wants to see a legendary venue close, and we look forward to a new licensee taking over and reopening the Tote shortly.''

Political commentator Nick Economou said the fact that local MP and Housing Minister Richard Wynne cut short his summer holiday last week to meet Tote landlord Chris Morris showed it had become a politically sensitive issue. Mr Wynne's Richmond seat is held by a margin of just 3.65 per cent.

Dr Economou, a politics lecturer from Monash University, said: ''The Tote's a pretty big institution and it's in a vulnerable electorate, and I'm sure that Mr Wynne's thinking he doesn't want to allow anything to happen that could enhance the Greens' chances in that seat, because it's on a knife-edge.

''They've been close in two elections now and Labor is justifiably worried. They're monitoring public opinion on this and it would be a symbolic thing for the Premier to do, to come in and say, 'I saved the Tote'.''

Dr Economou said allowing the Tote to close could also have cost votes in inner suburban battlegrounds of Brunswick and Northcote - traditional creative hubs for musicians and artists - and in Education Minister Bronwyn Pike's electorate of Melbourne, which she narrowly clung on to at the 2006 election and now holds with a margin of just over 2 per cent.

James Young, owner of Cherry Bar, said the threat to the Tote had galvanised live music lovers. ''Most people these days are pretty lazy and their sign of rebellion is getting on a blog, so it's pretty rare for 3000 people to march on the corner of Wellington and Johnston streets and close an intersection and hold up signs saying, 'Brumby you idiot'. I think this could be the tipping point for the Brumby Government. It's a small venue, but it's actually the heart of the live music industry and the heart's been broken.''

Licensee Bruce Milne called last drinks at the Tote on Monday night, blaming licensing fee rises and new measures that deemed his business a ''high-risk venue'', forcing him to employ two security staff on nights when bands played to audiences of often fewer than 20 people.

The laws, enacted in 1999, classify venues with live or amplified music open past 1am as high risk and were designed to ensure large bars and nightclubs had adequate security. Until recently they had not been enforced on smaller, trouble-free band venues. But as part of the Premier's Alcohol Action Plan, designed to curb drunken violence in and around licensed venues, compliance officers are targeting live music venues.

Swinburne University politics expert Professor Brian Costar said the Government had misjudged its constituents with a ''panicked, law-and-order'' approach to alcohol abuse and violence. ''They've tried to wedge out the Liberals, saying, 'We're tough on crime', with a blanket legislation that is tough on places that have nothing to do with crime.''

He said a perceived attack on the arts or live music could help the Greens at the election, although they already had strong support among young people in inner-city seats such as Richmond and Melbourne. ''Anything that mobilises people in that area builds momentum … It will come down to preferences, and the Greens will crack one of those seats.''

Greens candidate for Richmond Kathleen Maltzahn will campaign at this year's poll for venues to be ''high risk'' only if they have a history of violence and a high level of alcohol consumption.

Mr Robinson is set to meet Liquor Licensing director Sue Maclellan and potential new Tote licensee Jon Perring - joint owner of live music venues Bar Open and Pony - to discuss changes that would allow Mr Perring to take over the Tote's licence. In a statement, Ms Maclellan said she acknowledged that conditions for late-trading venues with live or amplified music might have unintended consequences. In those cases she might use her powers to modify the conditions.